Preliminary Trial of an Avatar Guided Digital Intervention for Emerging Adults

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a novel digital avatar (virtual coach) support program can help emerging adults ages 18-29 who present to the emergency department with suicidal thoughts and alcohol misuse (EA-Avatar). The study also aims to learn whether people find the program easy to use and whether daily surveys and the study design are able to be completed by the majority of emerging adult participants. The main questions this study aims to answer are: * Do participants use the digital program and find it helpful? * Is it possible for participants to complete daily surveys for twenty-eight days and follow-up surveys over twelve weeks? * Are there early signs that the program may help lower alcohol use and suicidal thoughts? Researchers will compare participants who receive the new digital avatar program plus supportive text messages to participants who receive a freely available suicide safety planning app to see if there are differences in use, engagement, and early signs of benefit. Participants will: * Receive standard care from the emergency department * Be randomly put into one of two groups (EA-Avatar or a free suicide prevention app) * Depending on their group, use a new avatar-guided digital support program with text message reminders OR use a free suicide safety planning app * Complete surveys at the start of the study and again at four, eight, and twelve weeks * Complete short daily surveys for twenty-eight days

NCT Number	NCT07418047
Lead Sponsor	University of Massachusetts, Worcester Collaborators: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Conditions	Binge Alcohol Consumption, Suicidal Ideation
Enrollment	60 participants
Start Date	2026-06-10
Primary Completion	2027-01-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-08-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-08-03